This year’s recipient of Thomas A. Crowe Outstanding Faculty reward is Dr. Linda Keena. She is currently actively engaged in teaching, scholarship and service and her accomplishments in these areas are meritorious. As a faculty member, Dr. Keena demonstrates a strong work ethic and an unrivaled passion to connect with and lead students. While she was hired to teach our undergraduate corrections courses, in the past two years, she has also contributed to our graduate program by teaching Research Methods and CJ Theory as well as teaching Introduction to Criminal Justice, Introduction to Corrections and Criminal Justice Ethics in the Core Curriculum.
Dr. Keena aggressively involves students in classroom discussions and activities and challenges them with writing projects, research papers, and exams. Students regard her as rigorous but fair and often comment about her openness, professionalism and ability to integrate her personal experiences to the classroom. Her teaching extends well beyond the traditional classroom. During the past two years, Dr. Keena has shown innovation in developing three face-to-face courses (including a Comparative Criminal Justice Study Abroad course), revamping some of the department’s individualized learning courses, incorporating technology into her instructional repertoire by creating three online courses and two Independent Study courses, and attending at least twelve teaching-related workshops. Dr. Keena has also generated an admirable record of service to her department, university, profession and the community.
In 2011, she served as a member of the UM 2020 Strategic Planning Service Working Group. Dr. Keena currently serves on department committees. Additionally she is a requested trainer for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and an active member of several professional criminal justice organizations. She delivers a servant leadership series to police, churches, coaches and athletes throughout the country. Despite the distance involved, Dr. Keena is a volunteer in Corrections for the State of Missouri and serves as advisor to a maximum security prison’s Restorative Justice (RJ) Programs in Missouri, Mississippi and Belize. In that capacity she assists inmates in designing and implementing service programs to voluntarily contribute back to the society they harmed. In September 2011, Dr. Keena was selected by Gov. Haley Barbour to participate in the 2011-2012 Delta Leadership Institute Executive Academy, a year-long leadership development program designed to prepare leaders to collaborate regionally to lead change in Mississippi Delta.